Air conditioning systems of motor vehicles are generally provided with a cabin temperature sensor, which is intended to detect the air temperature in the cabin of the motor vehicle. According to a design approach that is widely employed in the state of the art, the temperature sensor is disposed in the sensor housing of a climate control member such that it is protected from exposure to direct sunlight. Thermal contact with the air space of the cabin of the motor vehicle is established in that the sensor is force-ventilated such as by a motor-driven fan. However, this configuration of the cabin temperature sensor has disadvantages with respect to the required installation space and with respect to wear due to the moving parts.
As a result, in another design approach a non-ventilated temperature sensor is used, which is disposed directly in the cabin of the motor vehicle, or in a wall adjoining the cabin. Since the temperature sensor may also be exposed to the incident sun which results in heating of the sensor and consequently in a distortion of the temperature measurement, a variety of non-ventilated temperature sensors are known from the state of the art for detecting the cabin temperature of a motor vehicle in which the sunlight exposure is compensated for. By way of example, reference is made here to DE 20 2004 002 427 U1 and to DE 103 12 077 B3. Both documents disclose devices for determining the temperature in a space, which in particular can be the cabin of a vehicle. The device comprises a temperature sensor and solar sensor combination, the sensors being installed together in a common sensor housing, wherein the common sensor housing can be a standard LED housing, for example. In particular, the cited patents disclose that the sensor housing shape is optimized such that uniform illumination of the solar sensor is ensured even with varying positions of the sun. For this purpose, comparatively complex shapes of the front surface of the sensor housing and of the sensor housing edge located between the front surface and lateral surface of the sensor housing are required. In addition, during practical application, the heat input from the temperature sensor into the solar sensor via a common electrical contact has proven disadvantageous.
It is desirable to provide a sensor for determining the temperature in the cabin of a motor vehicle that avoids the disadvantages mentioned above. In addition, a climate control member for an air conditioning system of a motor vehicle is to be provided, in which a sensor according to the invention is used. Finally, a device is to be provided, which is used to determine the temperature in the cabin of a motor vehicle, while compensating for the heat input by the incident solar radiation.